Today's poet

[Mossdog]

Well, top of the morning to you all...I is off on my jollies soon......have a nice day all

Once more the round

What's greater, Pebble or Pond?
What can be known? The Unknown.
My true self runs toward a Hill
More! O More! visible.

Now I adore my life
With the Bird, the abiding Leaf,
With the Fish, the questing Snail,
And the Eye altering All;
And I dance with William Blake
For love, for Love's sake;

And everything comes to One,
As we dance on, dance on, dance on.

Theodore Roethke

I've been really remiss and preoccupied recently so greatly missing my visit to this thread. Anyway, I've just logged on and what do I find, wow, some tremendous orginal poetry and also this gem. Thank you all

[Mossdog]

I Knew a Woman

I knew a woman, lovely in her bones,
When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them;
Ah, when she moved, she moved more ways than one:
The shapes a bright container can contain!
Of her choice virtues only gods should speak,
Or English poets who grew up on Greek
(I'd have them sing in chorus, cheek to cheek.)
How well her wishes went! She stroked my chin,
She taught me Turn, and Counter-turn, and stand;
She taught me Touch, that undulant white skin:
I nibbled meekly from her proffered hand;
She was the sickle; I, poor I, the rake,
Coming behind her for her pretty sake
(But what prodigious mowing did we make.)
Love likes a gander, and adores a goose:
Her full lips pursed, the errant note to seize;
She played it quick, she played it light and loose;
My eyes, they dazzled at her flowing knees;
Her several parts could keep a pure repose,
Or one hip quiver with a mobile nose
(She moved in circles, and those circles moved.)
Let seed be grass, and grass turn into hay:
I'm martyr to a motion not my own;
What's freedom for? To know eternity.
I swear she cast a shadow white as stone.
But who would count eternity in days?
These old bones live to learn her wanton ways:
(I measure time by how a body sways.)


Yes, another one by......(thanks Freckle, he's new to me)

Theodore Roethke

[N-dubya]

Days like leaves
leaves fallen from a tree
Winter wind catches
them one
or two,
taking them from you,
But some remain in
layers
of leaf
on withering
leaf,
Skeletal days no maore than
a mulch of emaciated memory.

[freckle]

I've been really remiss and preoccupied recently so greatly missing my visit to this thread. Anyway, I've just logged on and what do I find, wow, some tremendous orginal poetry and also this gem. Thank you all

its nice to have you back mossy, i thought of your poem that i posted whilst running today, i particular the metronome bit, helped me get thru some of the hard bits and there were a few! (gisborough moors)

[freckle]

Days like leaves
leaves fallen from a tree
Winter wind catches
them one
or two,
taking them from you,
But some remain in
layers
of leaf
on withering
leaf,
Skeletal days no maore than
a mulch of emaciated memory.

this is really good, it made me think of how memories are constructed within our minds, how they are multi layered, why do we forget some things and recall others, the innaccuracies and subjectivity of memory i thought you encapsulated in the "mulch" line....thanks for posting

[Nathaniel Lee]

Regret.

I carry regret around with me,
Poisoning me slowly,
The world becoming shades of grey,
All life flowing past,
While i crawl into the cave,
I've constructed within my soul,
Watching the miasma of broken hearts,
And shattered dreams pass by me,
As i wonder if only,
But that's lost in time,
I wait here and cry,
And i want to die.

By Herakles.

[freckle]

Regret.

I carry regret around with me,
Poisoning me slowly,
The world becoming shades of grey,
All life flowing past,
While i crawl into the cave,
I've constructed within my soul,
Watching the miasma of broken hearts,
And shattered dreams pass by me,
As i wonder if only,
But that's lost in time,
I wait here and cry,
And i want to die.

By Herakles.

Very well written Herakles and very moving....regret is one of those things that can cause a lot of pain for all of us and I know that sometimes I have dwelt a little too much on the past (or indeed the future) rather than trying to live in the moment. I think us westerners have a great deal to learn from more eastern philosophies in this regard which place greater emphasis on living our lives moment to moment. Anyhow, I do hope your OK, we have still to meet up at a fell race and I look forward to that. Take care you.

[freckle]

Distances

Swifts turn in the heights of the air;
higher still turn the invisible stars
When day withdraws to the ends of the earth
their fires shine on a dark expanse of sand.
We live in a world of motion and distance.

The heart flies from tree to bird,
from bird to distant star,
from star to love; and love grows
in the quiet house, turning and working,
servant of thought, a lamp held in one hand.~

Philippe Jaccottet ~

[Nathaniel Lee]

My last two pieces go together as a pair. One explains the other. As two decades pass.

[freckle]

My last two pieces go together as a pair. One explains the other. As two decades pass.

I see, very moving Herakles